Yes, you heard it here first. After the amazing success of relaunching a car based on a car that only the British could love, what do you do for an encore? Well, the obvious was the convertible, and then maybe a 4 door version- a mini-wagon, but, the real brilliant next move is for BMW to launch their scooter- which “sips, not guzzles” (to steal the ad line from the campaign by the ad godz at Crispin Porter Bogusky) with the best of them.
In the world of $7 a gallon gas (the rest of the world for those of you who don’t travel much) scooters rule the streets. Just starting to catch on here on the coasts, scooters are a very efficient, fun way to get one person almost anywhere, as long as it’s not raining, snowing, or idiots in cars on cell phones aren’t trying to run you over.
Enter the BMW solution- the BMW C-1, not available in the USA, yet, and you have a scooter with a roll cage, roof… just what the doctor ordered- safe, dry, visible, and another fun vehicle to bring customers into the Mini showroom.
When I was in Europe, I lusted after one of these. Even if Mini didn’t want to bring in the C-1, a Mini branded scooter of the more conventional sort, would fit the brand mystique quite well.

The next Mini?

What do you think?

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Posted in: Advertising, BMW Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything you want to know about advertising

Five Rivers MetroParks recently selected The Next Wave to develop the brand for a new program set to launch in 2006. The new program will be part of a major push to connect outdoor recreational opportunities to regional economic development efforts. Communities that provide a complete package of cultural and recreational activities are more likely to attract high-growth potential companies in cutting edge industries like high-tech and bioscience. The Next Wave’s understanding of new media and strong brand building capabilities attracted Five Rivers MetroParks officials in their search for a marketing partner. The identity should be released to the public in mid-summer, with the preliminary programming introductions this fall.

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Posted in: Everything you want to know about advertising

They say the cobbler’s kids always need new shoes, well; we needed to update our site. Although people were always impressed with it, we did it 3 years ago, before CSS was fully implemented, and (x)HTML wasn’t quite 1.0 yet.
So we recently, quietly, went under the hood and rebuilt it, faster, stronger, better than it was before (and it didn’t cost 6 million dollars for those of you that got the reference).
Many of you won’t see any difference other than a few pages that no longer require you to continue to another page to finish the story. The site now features (x)HTML 1.0 Strict programming and is compliant according to theW3 Consortium. The site is now; handicapped accessible, works better with all current and future browsers, better optimized for search engines like Google, and of course, work and look just as cool as it did before.
Why should you care? Well, if you are a client who has an outside vendor building your site, lack of compliance can actually hurt your sites effectiveness, and your bottom line. You’re not getting the site you think you paid for. We often hear clients ask for fancy Flash sites thinking they look hip, but when we explain that search engines can’t index the vector images embedded in a Flash site, they trust us to build them something to standards.
As a designer, building a compliant site is just good craft. You wouldn’t ship a print file to a printer with low-rez RGB jpg’s anymore than you should build a site that isn’t compliant.
Our site gets hits from all over the world, and brings us inquiries about employment from as far away as Hong Kong, Finland and Austria. We’re actually embarrassed that it’s taken us this long to tighten it up, but the cobbler’s tale holds true- our customers always came first.
If you are interested in having your site evaluated for compliance, and effectiveness, please give us a call. We’ll rebuild your site to be faster, stronger, better than before too.

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Posted in: Design, Everything you want to know about advertising

All right, quick- this is a test. You want to buy TV spots in Columbus OH on the broadcast stations. So you do a google search on TV Stations, Columbus OH and then start chasing down results- this should be easy, right?
NOT.
You know you want to find ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, WB and then you want to find an e-mail for the Local Sales Manager. I could find 2 of 5. Even finding the phone number for the WB/UPN affiliate was a pain, because THEY TOOK THEIR WHOLE SITE OFFLINE and put up a holding page- with NO CONTACT information. How lame is that?
Seriously, they want people to buy advertising from them, an electronic media, and that is the best they can do?
You have to wonder where local stations find their General Managers, because none that I’ve met seem to understand the power of integration between the web and TV, just look at their sites. Most stations, especially the big news sites, seem to be buying prepackaged templates in the same way they buy their graphics packages. If you’ve seen one site, you’ve seen them all- branding, format, content, it’s all the same.
Didn’t anyone explain the power of differentiation to these people? Do they understand their unique ability to build community (something radio used to excel at, before they became a conglomerate)?
So, after tracking down the phone number of the affiliate (not easy, because almost all the links I found were back to the worthless site) I asked for the Local Sales manager- and of course got voice mail, for her, for her assistant, so back to the receptionist, who could give me the e-mail address I needed.
If you are making it this hard for people to find the person to buy from you, you’re in trouble- especially if you are supposed to be an expert in helping your customers drive sales in their businesses.
But, don’t worry the TV stations weren’t as bad as the guy from COTA, the bus company in Columbus, who is supposed to sell ads on the side of buses. I found the site easily, but all the pages for advertising were “being updated and not available at this time” and when I called and asked to be connected, his number was disconnected!
That, my friends, is the ultimate disconnection between a media outlet and the buyer.
So, go look at your own site and examine how easy is it to find a way to initiate a business relationship. It should never be more than one click away. And always have a phone number visible.

What do you think?

here is a link to a guy who has a lot to say about the future of broadcasting- Donatacom.com
here is a link to a blog that talks about TV stations outsourcing their sites and it references a really good article on it.
Outsourcing News Sites May Prove Short-Sighted for Local TV Stations

Just remember- it’s not all about news, it’s also about building community, for those stations that don’t have news operations.
Also found this funny link to look alike logos for TV stations- see what 7 looks like across the country- esp. funny, when your call letters, your dial position- mean NOTHING! Who does these brands? Is there any hope?

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Posted in: Everything you want to know about advertising, Future of TV, Marketing & the Web

It was supposed to be a seminar, hosted by the Dayton Ad Club and Books and Company, to teach local agencies and marketers about “Guerrilla Marketing.” The speaker, Al Lautenslager, co-author of “Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days” arrived at the Think TV studio to be greeted with chalk on the sidewalk “You can read a book about “Guerrilla Marketers” or you can hire one- www.thenextwave.biz.”
Then comes the next one, and the next one, with lines like “Big ideas, so little sidewalk” and “it’s only chalk- not like we spent thousands to get your attention. You probably can’t imagine what we’d do with real money” all followed by the agency URL.
Seminar participants saw the same thing. The local ad agency, The Next Wave, reached the people most interested in guerrilla marketing by demonstrating their creativity, without spending big money- or as they put it in one of the sidewalk headlines “It costs big money to put your name here or here (with arrows pointing to the names of Think TV donors engraved in marble along the sidewalk) but chalk is cheap.”
It’s that last tag that didn’t sit well with Think TV, or at least that’s what they said as they started hosing the sidewalk off, 3 hours before the seminar. Not to be daunted, the agency came back and re-chalked the walk in time for the event, and then arrived at the event as the agency logo- a man in a “blues brothers” costume, carrying a briefcase and a surfboard. Vinyl adhesive logos were added to the chalked walk as insurance against a second hose wash.
As a marketing stunt, the quick campaign achieved 2 of its three goals: while the seminar was in progress, a call came in about a piece of new business. It also cemented an internal goal of positioning the agency as the cutting edge creative firm to students from the School of Advertising Art who came to the second seminar session guaranteeing the agency that calls itself The Next Wave getting the pick of the best future talent. The last goal of reaching potential clients who attended the seminar has yet to happen. Maybe after they read the book, they will be more inclined to contact the agency about a guerrilla campaign of their own.
you can click on the pictures for a larger view.

You can read a book about "Guerrilla Marketers" or you can hire one.

Want to know the secrets of great advertising?

Big Ideas- little chalk

So many ideas, so little sidewalk

You can trust this man to come up with the next big ideas marketing.

People don’t read ads, they read what interests them- sometimes it’s an ad- and if it’s by us- they probably will remember it!

What do you think?

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Posted in: Advertising, Everything you want to know about advertising, Guerrilla campaigns

Interesting term I encountered today- “Me Media”- describing TiVo and iPods as way people will take control of their media. If you are a “broadcaster” mark my words- your days are numbered. Same goes for anyone providing content tied to atoms (newspapers, magazines, books etc.) To steal the phrase from the IBM campaign- it’s an on-demand world.
The article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/13/AR2005051301065.html
It’s the Washington Post- I hope it’s a fixed free link.

What do you think?

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Posted in: Careers in Advertising, Everything you want to know about advertising, Marketing & the Web

There are firms that charge hundreds of thousands of dollars to do this. Namelab is one, Interbrand is another. The Next Wave isn’t one, but maybe we should.
Naming your company is probably the biggest opportunity you have to either come out on top, or go out in flames.
Recent discussions with a potential client about a branding effort made it very clear that people need some help and guidance- or some things shouldn’t be left to amateurs.
Some rules for the do’s and don’ts of naming:
Don’t name it after yourself, your location, your technology, or a cute play on a famous name.
Why: Unless your name is unique (and pronounceable and spell able- Esrati fails both of these- although it is unique) it’s a bad idea. Your name probably doesn’t connect with your product or service, and, it also let’s people know how big you are instantly. Dealing with Dan Sharp from Sharp Consulting- you typically know whom the owner, president, chief cook and bottle washer is. However, if you call it Kata- and have a whole Kaizen story to tell, they might not sense instantly that you are a solo practitioner. Also, when it comes time to sell, or add partners, there isn’t a renaming to worry about. Adolph (Adi) Dassler decided to go into the shoe business and became Adidas, but it took a lot to make that name connote a certain quality, whereas Nike was already equated to the messenger god with winged feet.
Location is a problem because you may not stay there: 23 Second Street hair salon has moved twice since they started- and aren’t anywhere near that address anymore. All three Dorothy Lane Markets are not on Dorothy Lane, and if you call yourself Dayton Such and Such, it makes it hard to go national.
Your tech, or your service can box you in too. Right now, Laser hair removal is the thing. Ten years ago it was Electrolysis, next it might be gamma rays, so, don’t call yourself by your tech. Midas built such a name in mufflers, they had to work doubly hard to create the idea that they did brakes- and now complete car care.
It might sound funny, but calling your product “Harvey’s Crystal Cream” is asking for a lawsuit from “Harvey’s Bristol Crème” in about 2 seconds. Crystal Synergy doesn’t make any wild health claims, and allowed a back-story to flourish.
There are more things to consider in a name, and then in a mark, but, generally, companies like Xerox, Kodak, and Acura are smart moves for a name. With Xerox and Kodak, they are totally constructed to be unique which is critical in the day of search engines, and with Acura, it also connotes “Accurate” which helped establish the persona of the Honda luxury brand.
If you can connect the name to the benefit of your product or service, or make it sound as if it symbolizes something bigger- even better. Some names we’ve created work really well for a number of reasons. I’ll just give some examples and explanations:
Fearless Readers. If you ever read Marvel Comics- you recognize this phrase as a welcome to our story intro- as in Welcome fearless reader as we take you into a story…. The perfect name for a comic shop. Do a search- see what comes up. Google is the best thing to happen to naming ever.
TechnoConnecto. Our answer to the “Geek Squad” that Best Buy bought just for the name. The tagline “we make technology friendly” speaks to the consumer who is baffled- and the name suggests that they will connect your technology for you.
Culture Lunch. It could have remained a “Brown Bag lecture series on the arts” but no one would have come, and it would have died. But, by suggesting lunch will have added benefits of culture, ooh la la, yatzee!
Zen Windows. Every window guy talks about buy direct from the factory, and low prices, and window technology. Face it. They all get the windows from the same place. Our client was Deal Direct Home Improvements- something that brought 1.6 million search hits- whereas zen windows brings only them. And, they differentiate to stand apart.
Singing Joes Electric. An electrician that sings is a little different from Acme to AAA to Advance, to Premier- etc… no originality, no memorability. Unfortunately, the client’s wife thought “Electrical Quality Services” sounded better, and no one can remember the electrician that sings on the job.
So, you get some ideas on naming. There is more to this than this entry tells, but, before you want to spend several hundred thousand dollars to come up with the next “Viagra” give us a call.

Interbrand has these top 10 mistakes in naming:
1) Treating naming as an afterthought.
2) Ignoring complex trademark and URL issues.
3) Keeping a brand name that is no longer relevant.
4) Ignoring that naming is not only creative, but strategic.
5) Falling into the subjectivity trap.
6) Overlooking the global implications of names.
7) Failing to effectively communicate the name internally.
Ending verbal communication of a brand with its name.
9) Naming when it’s not very neccessary.
10) Believing that naming is an easy process.
From Advertising Age, May 9, 2005, page 20.

what do you think?

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Posted in: Everything you want to know about advertising